Netflix Vs Hotstar Vs Amazon Prime: The Battle Of Streaming Services & Which One Is Best

Video streaming services have made us realise that we don¡¯t need a dish or a cable connection to enjoy great TV content. They deliver content on multiple platforms, and even at the comfort of your palms in your smartphones. So we can enjoy watching our TV shows whenever we want, whatever we want and wherever we want.

In India, we are seeing a major boom in the number of streaming subscribers, and among these include three big and popular players- Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video. However, if you¡¯re someone who wants to subscribe to a new service, but are confused which one to pick, we¡¯ve got you covered. We¡¯re going to pit Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video against each other to help you make the right decision.

Round 1: Catalogue

A streaming service is as good as the content it holds. Let¡¯s start with Netflix.This streaming service holds a decent set of popular shows, including the popular Marvel TV shows and movies.

Moreover, it is also home to some popular Netflix Original titles like Stranger Things, House of Cards, Crown and the Marvel TV franchise including Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage among others. Netflix also holds a good amount of Bollywood content with numerous blockbuster titles in its collection to choose from. Netflix also holds numerous international stand-up comics like Russel Peters, John Mulaney, and others.

Hotstar has a good amalgamation of both Hindi as well as English content. Holding huge HBO titles like The Game of Thrones, How I Met Your Mother, Silicon Valley, Westworld and others it has a decent library to choose from. However, its strongest suit is that it also contains shows from its channel Star Plus, Star Bharat and others.

So if you¡¯re someone who misses out on your saas-bahu TV show on Star Plus, Hotstar has got you covered. Hotstar is also home to Hotstar Originals shows, including the reboot of Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai. If you¡¯re a sports fan you¡¯ll love Hotstar, as it allows for live streaming of cricket and football matches from Star Sports.

Amazon Prime Video holds a strong collection of English TV shows and movies, along with a really amazing collection of Bollywood and regional Marathi, Bengali, Telegu and Tamil movies. A few popular English TV shows include Suits, The Mindy Project, Young Sheldon, along with popular and critically acclaimed Amazon Originals like The Man from High Castle, Fleabag, One Mississippi and others. What¡¯s more is that it brings in India¡¯s standup comics to its collection with stand up shows from artists like Biswa, Kenny Sebastian, Kanan Gill, Sourabh Pant and others.

Round 2: Playback and performance

When comparing the three services for their playback, Netflix comes first. It streams instantaneously and offers a simple UI to toggle between the menus. If you abruptly pause the playback and get out of the app, it remembers where you paused. Moreover, it also gives you the option to continue watching from where you left earlier, which is a neat feature.

Amazon Prime comes second, which too is really impressive to watch content on, except you notice that it takes time to bump up the video quality to full-HD on slower internet speeds. Prime Video also knows when you¡¯ve paused, and allows you to play from that very spot the next time you¡¯re on the app. However, what I really love about Amazon Prime is its X-ray feature, where if you pause the content, it¡¯ll give you details about the characters on the specific frame, as well as the IMDB rating of the show. For a movie nerd, this feature can come in real handy instead of looking up the actor¡¯s name on the web.

Hotstar is the least favourite, as it might play great on a web browser, but get it on a smartphone and you¡¯ll notice that it doesn¡¯t adjust to screen accordingly. It stretches the video frame to adjust to screen which is completely out of your control. Also, it mostly forgets where you left off, and you¡¯re forced to pan through the video content to recollect where you paused previously. And the worst of all, while both Amazon and Netflix offers full-HD content on smartphones and tablets, Hotstar limits the streaming to just 720p, which is really pathetic.

Round 3: Offline download

While both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video give you the liberty of downloading and watching content offline on their smartphone apps, Hotstar only allows this for its regional content. The premium content cannot be downloaded and watched offline, which is a total bummer.

Round 4: Pricing

A Netflix subscription starts at Rs 500 a month that lets you stream at 480p for a single user, which goes all the way up to the premium pack for Rs 800 a month that lets you stream at up to 4K Ultra HD for selected titles, and up to four simultaneous users.

Hotstar, on the other hand, is slightly cheaper at Rs 199 per month which includes its premium shows. However, only one screen can play premium content at a time with no higher plan available as of now.

Amazon Prime Video has to be one of the most reasonable in this category. Coming at Rs 1000 for an entire year. This also includes free Amazon Prime deliveries on the Amazon account, so you don¡¯t have to pay extra for one-day deliveries while making purchases.

Also, you can have as many screens playing Amazon Prime as you want. And what¡¯s more amazing is that Amazon Prime now supports 4K Ultra HD content too on selected titles, in that same price point. Moreover, Amazon is also set to introduce Amazon Prime Music in India which will be included in the Amazon Prime membership, making it more value for money.

KO: Which one to pick?

In the end, your choice of streaming service is totally dependent on the content that you like watching, and how much you¡¯re willing to pay for it.

Netflix, even though it¡¯s the most expensive among the trio, has the best content library to pick from. So if you love binge watching on Hollywood TV shows and don¡¯t mind the premium price tag to go along with it, pick Netflix.

Hotstar might not be the best with its library, but it compensates that by providing a great collection of Hindi and English TV shows from its channels as well as Sports live streaming. So if you someone who wants to catch up on the left out saas-bahu shows, Hotstar is perfect for you.

Amazon Prime here seems to be the most value for money option, as it has decent international and regional content, as well as a decent user interface, along with free Amazon Prime deliveries and it does all that at just Rs 999 for an entire year, making it an option really hard to miss.